


Day 29 - Intubation (temp title)

by Huntress8611



Series: Whumptober 2020 [29]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Andy | Andromache of Scythia Needs a Hug, F/F, Fear, Good Quynh | Noriko, Hospitalization, Hospitals, Hurt/Comfort, Immortal Wives Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Intubation, Medical, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, Mortal Andy | Andromache of Scythia, Panic, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, day 29, lmk if i missed anything, ventilators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27276253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huntress8611/pseuds/Huntress8611
Summary: The title of this work is from the song _______________.This work fills the prompt for Whumptober Day 29: Intubation.TWs: intubation, hospitalsDid I do research? Yes. Are there still medical inaccuracies? Almost certainly, seeing as I’m not a doctor. I did my best.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko
Series: Whumptober 2020 [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1946887
Kudos: 19
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Day 29 - Intubation (temp title)

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this work is from the song _______________.
> 
> This work fills the prompt for Whumptober Day 29: Intubation.
> 
> TWs: intubation, hospitals
> 
> Did I do research? Yes. Are there still medical inaccuracies? Almost certainly, seeing as I’m not a doctor. I did my best.

Andy woke with a gasp, the same way she did every time she’d regained consciousness for over 6,000 years, and she couldn’t breathe.

There was something in her mouth so, naturally, she tried to reach up and pull it out, but her hands were stuck. She felt drugged and didn’t know where she was and she panicked, desperately trying to pull her hands free.

“Andy, Andy!” Someone was calling her name and there were hands on her face. “Andy, look at me, look at me.”

She opened her eyes and she saw Nicky standing over her.

“Andy, I need you to trust me. Stop breathing,” he said.

What the hell? What did he mean,  _ stop breathing? _ That sounded very counterproductive, but she did trust him, so she did, just for a few seconds, and right before she tried to breathe again, she… didn’t need to?

She looked at Nicolo, who must have been able to see the combination of panic and confusion in her eyes, and he sat down on the edge of the bed, moving one hand from her face in order to hold her hand, and the other up to her hair.

“Andy, you’re okay. You’re in the hospital. You’re on a ventilator, that’s what the doctors called it. It’s breathing for you.”

Andy squeezed his hand and then tried to trace letters on the back of his hand, though whatever drugs she was on made it difficult.

“Quynh?” Nicolo asked.

She nodded a tiny bit, not able to move her head very much.

“She’s okay. She’s here, but they would only let one person in here at a time and she was panicking. She agreed that you would need someone calm when you woke up. Her, Joe, Booker, and Nile are in the waiting room.”

A few moments later, a nurse walked in and was surprised to see that Andy was awake. Nicolo started to stand up, but Andy tightened her grip on his hand, and he stopped, looking at her.

_ Quynh, _ she managed to mouth around the tube in her mouth.

“You’re awake!” the nurse said, her surprise audible.

“Ma’am,” Nicolo asked, “Would you mind if I switch places with someone? She’d like to see her wife.”

“Yes, that would be fine,” the nurse said as she checked the IV that Andy hadn’t noticed until that moment.

Nicolo gently squeezed her hand before letting go and quickly walking out of the room to get Quynh. Andy kept her eyes on the nurse, who was humming a song as she checked numbers on the machines that Andy assumed were hooked up to her.

“Mrs. Andrea, if I remove these,” the nurse gestured at the restraints on her wrists, “will you promise not to pull out the breathing tube?”

She nodded as best she could, and the nurse quickly removed them.

A few minutes after Nicolo left, Quynh walked through the door and if Andy had been able to breathe, she would have sighed in relief. She reached an arm towards her, and Quynh took up a similar position to Nicolo’s, holding Andy’s hand in one of her own and running her other hand through her hair.

Andy tightly squeezed Quynh’s hand, and Quynh leaned over her to gently press a kiss to her forehead.

“My Andromache,” she whispered. “You’re okay.”

Andy finally relaxed, knowing that Quynh was, in fact, okay, and that Quynh would keep her safe.

Shortly after that, the nurse came over and asked Andy if she could raise the bed, so that she could see if it would be possible to take her off of the ventilator.

Andy gave her a thumbs up, and pretty quickly, she was sitting upright.

The nurse checked a few things, and then said, “I’m going to remove the breathing tube now, okay?”

Andy made an ‘okay’ sign in response, and the nurse nodded.

Andy couldn’t tell exactly what the nurse was doing, but she kept her eyes on Quynh. As long as Quynh was calm, everything was okay. She’d make sure nothing bad happened to her.

“Okay, I need you to try and cough, okay?”

Andy obeyed, and as she did, the nurse pulled out the tube. It felt really, really weird, and the moment it was out of her mouth, Andy leaned forward and coughed for a good 30 seconds, and when she stopped for a moment, an oxygen mask was placed over her face.

The nurse asked her to take a deep breath and she did, trying to ignore the raw feeling in her throat. It didn’t really hurt, it was just uncomfortable.

The nurse had her do a few more breathing exercises and listened to her breathe, making sure that she wasn’t having any trouble, until she seemed satisfied with the results.

“This is the call button,” she said, pointing at a large button. “If you have trouble breathing or need something, push that button. If you see her struggling to breathe,” she directed that part towards Quynh, “push the button. Okay?”

They both nodded and the nurse did one more check of the equipment attached to Andy before leaving the room, presumably to go see another patient.

“What- what happened?” she managed.

“Mission, it went- well, it went a bit sideways. As far as the hospital knows? You got hit by a car,” Quynh answered.

“The others, everyone’s okay?” Andy asked, needing to double-check. She knew Nicolo had said they were fine, but she just had to be sure.

“They’re all okay. Everyone’s perfectly fine, except for you. Andy, you have to be more careful,” she said, tightening her grip on the other woman’s hand. “I can’t lose you. I can’t.”

“I’m sorry, I keep- I keep forgetting,” Andy admitted quietly.

“Andromache…”

“I haven’t had to worry about getting hurt for over six  _ thousand _ years, Quynh. It’s- it’s hard.”

“I know, I know, just… just try to be more careful? Please,” she asked, “for me?”

“Of course.”

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like my hospital descriptions are getting better (and more realistic), but they still lowkey suck. I’ll figure it out eventually.


End file.
